As you guys can see, I suck at deadlines. Anyhow, this one is just a little angsty. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy replies. ;)
Stronger Than Pride – Chapter 12
Alexis's hands shook as she turned the doorknob of her Penthouse. Once inside, she noticed it was eerily quiet. Though she hated to admit it, she was glad. Because of the pregnancy, she was exhausted and in no mood to go Round two with Jason. Still, the silence made her feel lonely. A glance toward the staircase made her wish desperately that she could see Kristina, the sister she lost too soon, flying down them in her typical frantic state.
She dropped her suitcase at the door before she sank onto the sofa. She let out a sigh. Beside her, she felt a soft thud. Soon, she heard a loud rumbling purr. "Hey, Tiger." His name was enough of an invitation to her lap. As she stroked the cat's head, he squinted in enjoyment. "At least I can make some man happy." She noticed Tiger's eyes seemed to be focused on something in the distance. It was then she noticed the hole in the wall. "What in the world?"
Gently, she moved Tiger from her lap then moved to the wall. Just as she moved to touch the hole, a knock on the door startled her. In the process, she jammed a splinter into her finger. "Dmn it," she cursed as she answered the door.
"Well, I'm happy to see you, too," Diane snarked. Max just stood behind her meekly waiting for whatever to pass. Sometimes, she wondered if Max would be better suited as a part-time nanny than as a bodyguard.
"I'm sorry. Come in." She noticed Max carried a small piece of dry wall and supplies to fix the wall.
"Trouble in paradise?"
"Splinter."
Diane followed her back to the sofa and immediately began digging in her purse for a pair of tweezers. "So, Max gets a call about a mysterious hole in the wall. And he informed me that your typically pleasant husband was a bit on the angry side. Then you open the door in a foul mood. What's going on?"
"Jason and I had a fight. I came home to work it out and he was gone."
"A fight was bound to happen. How long did you think the two of you could keep going at like a couple of oversexed teenagers?" Diane began pulling at the splinter.
"Forever would have been nice."
Diane glanced near the door where Alexis had dropped her suitcase. "Well, you're not going to give up are you? I haven't seen you this happy, since…" Resting a finger on her lip, Diane "thought" about it dramatically. "Actually, since I've known you."
"Calm down. Sonny already gave me the pep talk."
"Sonny?"
"Yeah, he was great. Besides, leaving was really just a fleeting thought; not to mention my hormones are totally out of whack."
Diane leaned forward and whispered to keep Max from hearing. "Tell me about it. The hot flashes are the worst."
Alexis laughed out loud. "Not those hormones. Diane, I'm pregnant."
"What!!! Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm only about 6 weeks along, but in a few months, I'll give birth to baby number four. Who would have thought it?"
Diane smirked, "Anyone who saw the way the two of you constantly go at it. Have you told anyone?"
"Only Sonny."
"There's that name again." Diane leaned back on the sofa and kicked a Manolo up on the coffee table. "Sonny."
"Diane, Sonny is: my friend, Kristina's father, and thanks to Jason my employer."
"Actually, you forgot: your neighbor, Molly's uncle, your confidante…"
Alexis crossed her arms in front of her. "Stop making a mountain out of a molehill."
"Alexis, you once left the hospital to defend this man at the police station and you nearly passed out in the process."
"That was a long time ago. I love my husband very much; even though I am furious with him right now."
Diane threw her other stillettoed foot on the table. "A baby. Wow. It looks like we won't be fighting over the same outfit for a nice long while." She laughed heartily.
"You witch!" Alexis laughed out loud. Diane may have been her friend, but she could be totally cut throat.
"Speaking of fighting, what were the two of you fighting about?"
"Claudia. Jason insists on staying connected to Claudia Zacchara."
Diane leaned close to her ear and whispered. "Well, if I were you, I really wouldn't look at these contracts when I leave."
"Why?"
"If I told you, I would be a violating attorney-client privilege, wouldn't I?"
Diane had been gone nearly four and a half minutes before Alexis took a peak at the contracts. What she saw horrified her. Jason was becoming a silent partner in Claudia Zacchara's business, which apparently was a jewelry company. She slammed the contract on the desk and flopped on the sofa.
In her mind, she wondered, "How Jason could continue to plan on partnering in a legitimate business with Claudia, even after she'd walked out?" Did that mean he didn't care whether she stayed or went? She sank into the sofa where she remained until Jason came home.
"Hey." She heard his voice, typically strong, yet gentle. She looked up to see him. As usual he wore blue jeans, a dark sweater and his leather jacket. He closed the door, threw his jacket on the arm of a nearby chair, then he moved toward the sofa. "I wasn't sure you'd be here when I got home."
"I'm not sure why I am." There were times when they seemed so natural together. Then there were times like now when the danger surrounding him seemed almost palpable. It was at these times she wondered why she hadn't kept her distance.
"Let's talk." Jason joined her on the sofa. With a deep breath, he began, "Alexis, I'm sorry. I didn't tell you about the hit because I didn't want you to worry."
She flinched as he moved to touch her. "Don't pretend you care what I think, Jason." She lifted the file from the table and handed it to him. "Diane dropped off the contracts for you and your soon-to-be business partner."
Jason took the file from her and placed it back on the table. His cool blue eyes fixed themselves on her eyes, which were beginning to fill with water. He remained silent, which irked her beyond belief in situations like these.
"I can't believe you weren't going to tell me."
"You asked me to keep the business away from you. What was I supposed to do? Claudia saved my life the night of the accident. That's when she told me there was a hit. If it weren't for Claudia, I might not be alive."
"Don't tell me you actually trust that woman." She leaned forward moving closer to him in the process. "You have no idea what she's capable of. Before you get into business with her, you should know…" She hesitated, knowing the damage her knowledge of this bombshell would do.
"What?"
Knotting her fingers together, kept her focused until she looked up. She bit her lip until she finally blurted, "I overheard Claudia and Jerry talking. She helped plan the hit on Sonny. She's partly responsible for what happened to Michael."
"How long have you known?" Jason's body stiffened and his voice became eerily calm. Suddenly, she knew the Jason that men faced just before they met their Maker. When she didn't reply he shouted. "How long?"
"Since the day Jerry tried to kill me." The day her world had been turned upside down; the same day that her fate had become intertwined with his.
"And you didn't tell me? You didn't think I needed to know this? Didn't you think this would affect me? You know what I do for a living." His voice remained loud.
"What you do for a living?" Now, she was the one to yell. "Jason, you kill people for a living. That's what you do. It's what you did in front of me that night. What was I supposed to do? Tell you so you could kill Claudia, too?"
Jason began to pace. "You are unbelievable. You act like you're above all the violence, but you are drawn to it. First you're with Sonny, then Jerry and now me. You get off on the danger, but you pretend to hate it so you can use your God complex to control everyone around you."
Her mouth fell open in disbelief. She looked at the way his jaw tensed and was shocked to see he actually believed what he was saying. "My God complex?"
"Alexis, you think you can control everyone and everything. When people don't fall into line with what you want, you punish them. You did it with Sam and you're doing it with me now."
Her voice softened. "So, it all goes back to Sam? You want to be with Sam go be with her. I'll be just fine raising this baby on my own."
She felt his hands grab her forearms. Though his grasp was strong, he didn't hurt her. After staring at her for a moment, he spoke more softly. "Don't do that."
"Don't do what?"
"Don't try to make to turn me into Ric because we're having an argument." She watched as Jason exhaled deeply, then he ran his hands over his face. It was one of the things he did that reminded her that he was once Sonny's protégé. "This fight has nothing to do with Sam. I married you."
"To keep me from testifying."
"Did I get bonus points if I got you pregnant?"
"Sarcasm. Nice." Truth of the matter was, if she hadn't been furious, she would have chuckled.
"Fine, you want honesty? I should have told you about the hit. You should have told me about Claudia. You're mad at me and I'm angrier at you than I can remember being at anyone in a long time. But I love you and we'll get past this."
That evening they moved about the Penthouse without saying much or touching much, both of which were unusual. Jason left to go to the coffee warehouse about 9 p.m. and she used the opportunity to fall asleep in the spare bedroom without an argument about where she was sleeping. Not that she'd slept much that night; she'd grown used to having Jason's body beside her. The next morning, she rose early showered and headed across the hall "to work." Work began by repeatedly lifting forkfuls of Sonny's infamous omelets into her mouth. Then she listened to her daughters' tales of the slumber party with Sonny.
"Eyeshadow?"
"It was Kristina's play eye shadow."
"You let them put it on you?" She couldn't stop laughing.
"Not a word to Jason."
And with Sonny's words, she changed the subject. Being the good friend she knew him to be, he dropped it. Around lunchtime, Viola came by and picked up the girls. She was thrilled when Sonny told her that his newest employee, Paulo, would be cleared to enter the country within the month. After Viola left, curiosity got the best of Alexis.
"Why did you agree to hire Paulo without meeting him?"
"Jason told me how he and Viola were together. True love always wins out in the end. So, I figured I should give it a boost."
She and Sonny went over the contracts for the rum factory for the rest of the afternoon. As they did, they slipped into a bit of reminiscing about Puerto Rico: the weather; Ernesto, the union's attorney; and the beaches. They were careful to avoid any discussion of anything that might be eve the slightest bit inappropriate. The day would have been perfect, if she hadn't known the elephant in the room would be there when she got home.
With a sigh, she entered her Penthouse. She noticed a single calla lily on the desk with a note that read, "Turn on the radio at 6 p.m." With five minutes to spare, she turned the radio on. To her surprise, she heard the voice of a radio host that advised the lovelorn. "Caller, what brings you in tonight?"
"I had a fight with my wife. We said some things that hurt each other's feelings. I figured if I called in, I could actually get a word in without it turning into a fight."
"Jason?" Alexis asked the radio, though she knew it couldn't reply.
The radio host continued on. "And now you want her to know you're sorry?"
"I want her to know that although we have some things we need to work out, I love her. Actually, it's more than that. I've loved other people, but I ache for her."
"Wow. She sounds like a lucky lady." The radio host said, almost to herself. "Caller, do you care to give me your name?"
"Trust me, she knows who I am."
The host chuckled. "Well, this one goes out from the mystery man to his lady love. It's Ne-Yo with mad."
As the music played, Alexis listened to the lyrics. Soon, the tears fell from her eyes. When the song ended, she looked up and saw Jason standing in front of her.
He knelt before her. "Alexis, I'm willing to try if you are, but I need to know where we go from here."
With a deep breath and a sly smile, she said simply, "Upstairs."
Mad – Music and lyrics by NeYo
.com/watch?v=91gnhhDqtIo
She's staring at me I'm sitting wondering what she's thinking,
Nobody's talking, 'cause talking just turns into screaming,
Ohh, and now as I'm yellin' over her, she's yellin' over me,
All that that means, is neither of us is listening,
And what's even worse is that we don't even remember why we're fighting.
So both of us are mad for, nothing
Fighting for, nothing
Crying for, nothing
But we won't let it go for, nothing
No, not for, nothing
There should be, nothing
To a love like what we got, oh baby
I know sometimes It's gonna rain,
But baby can we make up now cause I can't sleep through the pain.
Girl I don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
And I don't want you to go to bed, mad at me
No, I don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
And I don't want you to go to bed, mad at me (oh no, no, no).
And it gets me upset girl when you're constantly accusing,
Asking questions like you already know
We're fighting this war, baby both of us are losing
This ain't the way that love is supposed to go
What happened to workin' it out?
We fall into this place where
You ain't backin' down
And i ain't backin' down
So what the he!! do we do now?
It's all for, nothing
Fighting for, nothing
Crying for, nothing (woah)
But we wont let it go for, nothing
No not for, nothing
There should be, nothing
To a love like what we got, oh baby
I know sometimes it's gonna rain,
But baby can we make up now cause i can't sleep through the pain.
Girl I don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
And I don't want you to go to bed, mad at me
No I don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
And I don't want you to go to bed, mad at me (oh no, no, no).
Oh baby, this love ain't gonna be perfect
And just how good its gonna be
We can fuss and we can fight
Long as everything's all right between us
Before we go to sleep
Baby we're gonna be...
ohhhhh
I know sometimes it's gonna rain,
ut baby can we make up now cause I can't sleep through the pain.
Girl I don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
and i don't want you to go to bed, mad at me
No I don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
And I don't want you to go to bed, mad at me (oh no, no, no).